So, on Thursday night I spoke to a woman who has read my book. Her daughter was involved with the photo-shoot and she was so excited to buy it. For the sake of this blog post we'll call her Miriam. Hope she doesn't like, you know, hate that name.Anyhoo...
I'd heard through the grapevine from her daughter that once she got started, she couldn't put it down.
YAY #1
When we spoke on Thursday I had no idea she'd already finished it. I asked her how far along she was and she excitedly said, "Oh, I'm done! But I'm DYING to get to the next one! When is that coming out?"
YAY #2
We then got to discussing the story. And I heard some things that were delicious! She, like the person who did my first written review, was so attached to/invested in the characters. She wanted a friend like Grayson, she pined for what was going to happen to Jensine, and she was torn between which of the two damanged men in Atlanta's life she wants her to choose. She loved them even though they are deeply flawed.
YAY #3
It's so important to me that people see them as flawed. Yes, they're pretty people. Yes, they have money. But that's mainly because of not only the genre (vamps tend to be pretty, lets face it...I said pretty, not sparkly...let's know the difference, people) and because I didn't want the conflicts of the story to revolve around money, I created viable ways for them not to worry about it. But, in exchange for giving them those small "outs" I gave them tortured backgrounds that revolve around moral dilemmas as well as life and death decisions.
No one is perfect. Even if they look it. They're not. No one is. From the dawn of time (well almost that long) we, as a species, have been sinners. We're flawed. But our baggage is what makes us who we are. It's what drives us to be passionate about one thing while we let other things slide. I spend much of the five books exploring Atlanta's faults as well as her positive attributes. In the first book you don't see as much of her flaws, but as the story continues, you will. She will fall on her face like we all do in life. In my mind, its how you recover from those falls, that defines who you are.
So to listen to Miriam talk about her love of the flawed men, it made my heart sing. It also was fantastic to hear someone enjoy the story, the adverture, and the world I've created.
I encouraged Miriam to go to Goodreads and post a review. If you have read my book, "The Betrayal" and feel it is 4 or 5 star (out of five) worthy. Please help a new author out and post the review.
Now, back to working on my NaNo novel...
xo
Tamsin :)
